Shurmur press conf. transcript - 11/4

The transcript of coach Pat Shurmur's post game press conference following Sunday's game against the Baltimore Ravens.

CLEVELAND BROWNS COACH PAT SHURMUR

(Opening statement)- “I really don’t have any injuries of note so we’ll move right on to the game. It was a hard fought game of course. There are just some fundamental things about football in there that we have to do a better job of if we’re going to win these games. Early in the game, I thought we didn’t do a very good job of stopping them. Early in the game, we contributed - we had a couple third and ones that didn’t go our way. There’s one I want to get clarification on, of course, but none of that’s an excuse. Then we found a way, I think we stopped them on eight straight drives. There were a bunch of three and outs. Then we moved the football, got down in the red zone and didn’t score any touchdowns. We can go beyond all that. You start getting threes instead of sevens when you find your way down there, and of course the outcome is much different. Then when we did score, we were lined up improperly. There was some sloppiness in there. Of course, I’ll take some responsibility for that. I think the guys were ready to play. They played hard. At one point there, we got ahead of the Ravens. They did a good job of coming back and we didn’t do a good job of recapturing the lead, and we lost the football game. It’s disappointing as is always the case when you lose a football game. We’ve got to give them credit. They persevered. They won the football game. Now we just need to regroup as we move forward and get ready for the back half of our season. I asked the guys to stay in the moment, which they did. Now we’ll get ready for this next week and then the games beyond.”

(On what happened with the three timeouts)- “We had a couple times when the communication just wasn’t right. All the plays are critical enough where we felt like we needed to call timeout and talk about it. We need to get a little smoother with that.”

(On if the timeouts were because of a helmet malfunction)- “No, it was just communication issues that need to get cleaned up.”

(On why they went for it on fourth and two)- “I wanted to get the first down. It felt like we had a play that we liked and we didn’t execute it well. That’s why.”

(On if it is safe to assume that the third and one call he wants clarification on was the Josh Gordon pass interference call)- “Just assume.”

(On the play still resulting in an incomplete pass)- “Had it been complete, we still wouldn’t have got it right? Hey, listen, I don’t want to ever blame anything on penalties. We need to execute better.”

(On how Brandon Weeden played)- “I think Brandon is going to watch the film and see that there were some things he’d like to have back. He battled just like the rest of the guys, but I don’t think any position played well enough throughout the game. Everybody battled and played hard. Everybody made good plays, but I don’t think we played well enough to win.”

(On if Weeden was seeing the field as well as he had been the last few weeks)- “I think so. He’s see the field. There were some things that I knew immediately that we could do better, but then he made some real nice plays as well. We need to make more of the good plays and less of the bad ones. I think that goes without saying.”

(On if going for it on fourth and two was against his nature)- “What do you mean? It will be a fun thing for everyone to talk about this week, just like when we lost the game and I didn’t go for it. I don’t know what you’re talking about, ‘my nature.’ I don’t know you that well, you probably don’t know me that well.”

(On punting in the Colts’ territory but going for it in this game in their own territory)- “In both situations, the decision didn’t lead us to a victory did it? That’s why you talk about it. Had we converted it and we moved forward, then it would have been talked about on what a gutsy move it was, right? That’s all. I think it’s fair and I’ll join into it.”

(On if he thought they were ready to play this game)- “Yeah, I do. I really thought we were prepared. They started out and got some points and then somewhere in there we got ahead of them. I thought we were ready to play.”

(On if he thought Chris Ogbonnaya moved back in time on the illegal formation call)- “No, that was a penalty. We weren’t lined up right. It was a penalty.”

(On today not being one of Joe Haden’s best games and his coverage during Torrey Smith’s touchdown reception)- “They caught an under route on us and then he circled back on him. I’ll have to watch the tape to see if it wasn’t one of Joe’s better games, I don’t know that at this point. I’ll have to detail it out. That was one play there where you obviously don’t want them to score on us.”

(On if Weeden told him the slipped out of his hands during the fourth down play)- “No, he didn’t say anything.”

(On Weeden looking like he was in pain today)- “He just had general soreness like everybody that plays.”

(On having 13 defensive players on the field and if that was part of the communication issues on the sideline)- “No, we were on defense at the time there. There was substitution going on there and again, I’m going to get some clarification because when teams substitute you’re allowed to substitute as well. We’ll just make sure. Again, all that obviously is my responsibility to make sure we get enough guys on the field and then of course play well and coach well.”

(On if the third and one at the start of the game was designed to be thrown to Alex Smith)- “We just didn’t execute, but I would agree with you. I sense the questioning here. On third downs we need to be better, especially third and one’s and then red zone. I think that kind of tells the story and that contributes to the 14, I’ll go back to your question, they score twice and then we don’t convert. It had nothing to do with whether, ‘we were ready to play.’ We just didn’t make the plays because our guys, I think, were ready to play.”

(On if Trent Richardson’s track record of third and one dictated the play calling)- “No, not at all. Trent’s a good back.”

(On if he saw anything on T.J. Ward’s roughing the passer penalty)- “Nope. I saw it live and then I happened to see a couple replays, probably just like you guys. And they marked off 15 yards against us.”

(On the defense playing so well and having a stretch of six straight drives of three-and-outs before the final touchdown drive)- “Yeah, they were playing excellent. We need to make sure we get touchdowns when we drive the ball down there, so that that last drive isn’t near as critical. It’s a credit to the Ravens for driving on us.”

(On dominating half the game after the first quarter)- “Yeah, but dominating for however long, you’ve got to find a way to get more points than they do. That’s the real part of this thing.”

(On if this feels like a lost opportunity)- “We lost the football game. That’s what it feels like to me and we’ll count them all up at the end of the year. I’ve got no second thoughts as to how we prepared, what we went into the game trying to do, I think we all just need to do it better.”

(On if Mohamed Massaquoi reinjured his hamstring)- “I don’t know what it was, but he came hobbling out of there and it effected that next call because we wanted to stay in the same grouping. You’ll have to ask him. At this point, I wasn’t notified of it being anything major. It happened near the end of the game so I’m sure he’s in there (locker room) for you.”